What Penn State coach James Franklin said at spring football press conference

The 2017 season for Penn State football ended with a Fiesta Bowl victory over Washington, concluding an 11-2 campaign.

The Nittany Lions went 7-2 in Big Ten play and did not compete in the Big Ten Championship. The 2018 season for coach James
Franklin’s group will be an extremely talented one, but with some newer faces leading the charge.

QB Trace McSorley is still the man taking snaps, but play-makers such as RB Saquon Barkley, WR DaeSean Hamilton and TE Mike
Gesicki have moved on to the NFL. Defensively, guys like DB Grant Haley and LB Jason Cabinda will also be missed.

Penn State’s spring football practices are set to begin on Monday, with the Blue-White spring game taking place on April 21.

Prior to spring practices beginning, Franklin talked with the media.

What James Franklin said at spring football press conference

On mid-year enrollees: “Probably a lot further ahead than what I anticipated they would be.” — mentally and physically. “The group has already changed
their body tremendously.

On the LB situation: “We’ve got to find a two-deep at linebacker. That’s a critical question. A two-deep we can win with.”

On why Lamont Wade moved to safety: “A big part of it is our depth at cornerback… those guys have played a lot of football for us… We feel really good about
the depth we’re creating at CB, we have a few more questions at safety. Lamont [Wade] is a football player… [safety] plays
to his strength.”

On Micah Parsons: “We think he’s got a chance [at middle linebacker]… But he’s never played the position. So far, so good. I remember during
the recruiting process, some players were like ‘Coach, why are we putting up this this?’ … I haven’t had one player question
the roller-coaster [recruitment] since he showed up on campus.”

On Jonathan Thomas: “[Running back] Jonathan Thomas could be kind of like the Troy Apke deal, where he stepped in as a senior and played really
well.”

On opposing teams’ mindset playing Penn State: “I think in years past, teams have come into games thinking ‘We’re not going to let Saquon Barkley beat us.’ Now I expect
it to be ‘We’re not going to let Trace McSorley beat us.'”

On the DT position: “We’re excited about what Robert [Windsor] and Kevin [Givens] bring to the table.”

Franklin mentions Antonio Shelton has really made a push, too.

On Saquon Barkley’s NFL Combine experience: [On Barkley standards] “I think Saquon had a very average combine. His numbers were solid but I think he event thought he
would do a little bit better.”

Franklin thought Barkley could run the 40-yard dash in the 4.3s or even high-4.2s.